The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:31

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

For even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their gods. Elsewhere the phrase used is "make to pass through the fire "(Deuteronomy 18:10), or simply "make to pass through to Molech" (Le Deuteronomy 18:21; Jeremiah 32:35).

This has led some to maintain that the ceremony described was merely a februation, a lustration by fire, and not an actual burning alive of these victims; but there can be no doubt that both among the Ammonites and the Phoenicians, and indeed wherever the worship of Baal or Molech was followed, the offering of children in sacrifice by burning prevailed.

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